(TAMPA, Fla.) — A 7-year-old bystander was fatally shot in the head by a stray bullet amid an altercation over jet skis on the July 4 holiday, according to Tampa, Florida, police.
When the gunfire broke out near a boat ramp, the 7-year-old boy’s grandfather pulled him into a truck to take cover, but the boy was still shot in the head and the grandfather was shot in the finger, Tampa police Deputy Chief Calvin Johnson said at a news conference Wednesday.
It appears the boy and his grandfather were shot by the same bullet, Johnson said. The grandfather’s injuries were non-life-threatening.
Johnson said the shooter was “careless” with a gun and let “anger take over.”
“One group was mad because the second group was riding their jet skis too close to the shore,” Johnson said, adding “that confrontation led to gunfire.”
No arrests have been made and police are urging anyone with information to come forward.
To the shooter, Johnson said, “Turn yourself in. … Just imagine if that was your child that was killed over this.”
“I’m very angry,” Johnson said, calling the shooting “senseless.”
“We need to do better as a community, really, as Americans,” Johnson said. “There’s a better way to deal with anything you may be going through, other than going to that firearm.”
“Our thoughts are with the family of this innocent child,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement. “Our detectives will work tirelessly until all those involved are identified and arrested.”
(PHILADELPHIA) — Investigators are searching for answers as to why someone wearing a ski mask and body armor went on a shooting spree in Philadelphia on the eve of the Fourth of July, gunning down five people.
“This armed and armored individual wreaked havoc, firing with a rifle at their victims, seemingly at random,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Philadelphia Police Department received 911 calls about a shooting near Chester Street in the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood on Monday just before 8:30 p.m. ET. Gunfire was heard in several areas near the first location during the shooting, according to police.
Surveillance video obtained by Philadelphia ABC station WPVI-TV appears to show a person shooting at a nearby intersection.
Kingsessing resident Theo James said he heard a young man screaming for “help” before realizing there were multiple gunshot victims.
“After I helped him out, I saw another person down the street, discovered them and helped them out. And one more person,” James told WPVI.
Five people died after being shot multiple times, according to police. The victims were identified by police as Daujan Brown, 15; Lashyd Merritt, 20; Ralph Moralis, 59; Dymir Stanton, 29; and Joseph Wamah, Jr., 31.
Lashyd Merritt’s mother, Marie Merritt, said her son was headed to a store across the street from their home when he was shot dead, telling WPVI: “It’s like I feel him saying, ‘Why me, why me, why me?'”
Two unidentified children, as young as 2, were injured during the shooting while traveling in a car with their mother. One suffered an eye injury from shattered glass and the other was shot in the leg, according to police.
Police said responding officers came under fire as they pursued the suspect that night, arresting the 40-year-old in a rear alley of Frazier Street after a brief chase on foot. The officers did not return fire and the suspect ultimately surrendered, police said.
The alleged shooter had been using an AR-15-style rifle, which was recovered by police. A 9 mm handgun, magazines and a police scanner were also found on the individual, according to police.
The unnamed suspect is currently awaiting arraignment. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told reporters Tuesday that the person “will be facing multiple counts of murder and will also be facing multiple counts of aggravated assault as a first degree felony weapons charges, among others.”
Police said they are not formally naming the suspect until criminal charges are filed, which is expected to happen sometime on Wednesday.
Multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News that the suspect is Kimbrady Carriker.
(WASHINGTON) — Nine people were injured in a drive-by shooting in Washington, D.C. early Wednesday as residents were still celebrating the Fourth of July, police said.
The shooting occurred shortly before 1 a.m. ET on Meade Street in the northeastern quadrant of the U.S. capital, according to the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.
A preliminary investigation revealed that a dark-colored SUV was driving through the area when “it stopped and it fired shots in the direction of some of our residents that were outside, just celebrating the fourth of July,” Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Leslie Parsons told ABC News.
All nine victims have non-life-threatening injuries. Two are children, ages 9 and 17, Parsons said.
Police previously told ABC News that there were seven victims.
Some of the victims were transported to area hospitals via ambulances, while others sought treatment themselves, according to Parsons.
The shooting appears to have been a targeted attack and police are searching for the suspect vehicle. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting with the investigation.
(EL PASO, Texas) — The sentencing hearing for the El Paso Walmart gunman on dozens of federal hate crimes and firearms charges is set to begin Wednesday.
Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty in February to the racist 2021 massacre that killed 23 people.
Crusius had initially pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, but requested a rearraignment hearing after federal prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty in their case.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin Wednesday at 9 a.m. MT in El Paso, Texas federal court and will likely “take several days,” the district court said.
The hearing was initially set to begin on June 30, though both parties requested in a joint motion that it be pushed back to “allow for the greatest number of participants to attend the entirety of the proceedings.”
Victims and victims’ family members will have preference for seating in the courtroom, the district court said.
Federal prosecutors investigated the shooting as both domestic terrorism and a hate crime because Crusius claimed to have targeted Hispanics. He allegedly told investigators he chose the store, located near the U.S.-Mexico border, because it was frequented by Hispanic shoppers.
Law enforcement officials said he cased the store the day of the August 2019 shooting, then returned wearing protective ear muffs, safety glasses and wielding a high-powered assault-style rifle.
Crusius allegedly told investigators following his arrest that he set out to kill as many Mexicans as he could after driving from his home in Allen, Texas, about 650 miles east of El Paso, officials said.
Twenty-two shooting victims died within days of the attack, while a 23rd person died eight months later. There were also 22 people injured in the attack.
Crusius pleaded guilty to 90 federal charges, including 23 counts for hate crime acts that resulted in death, 22 hate crime acts that caused bodily injury, 23 counts of using a firearm in a federal crime of violence resulting in death and 22 counts of using a firearm in a federal crime of violence.
Crusius is also facing capital murder charges in state court. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. A trial date won’t likely be set until once the federal case is closed, according to the El Paso district attorney, who said in May he plans to seek the death penalty in the state’s case.
(NEW YORK) — Police responded to two reports of possible shark bites in separate locations around the same time on the Fourth of July off the South Shore of Long Island, New York, a day after two similar incidents were reported, authorities said.
At 1:50 p.m., police responded to a report of an injured beachgoer at Quogue Village Beach in the town of Southampton, according to the Quogue Village Police Department.
In that incident, a 47-year-old man was swimming in chest-deep water when he was bitten on his right knee. Although a shark was not physically observed, the bite was from a larger marine animal, police said. The man suffered severe lacerations and was taken by ambulance to Peconic Bay Medical Center to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police have notified all surrounding beaches of the marine life activity and are encouraging patrons to stay out of the water until the situation can be further assessed.
In the second incident, a 49-year-old man was bitten on the hand around 1:55 p.m. while swimming in the ocean off Fire Island, according to the Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau, who responded to the incident. The victim was brought to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore for treatment of a non-life-threatening laceration.
Two more apparent shark bites were reported at beaches on Long Island’s South Shore on Monday, ABC’s New York station WABC-TV reported — one at Robert Moses State Park and another at Kismet Beach.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office is deploying drones across beaches to try and prevent encounters after a rise in shark attacks last year, when there were six shark attacks off beaches on Long Island in the span of three weeks.
Robert Moses State Park had a delayed opening for swimming Tuesday after state parks officials spotted about 50 sand sharks during their morning drone survey, WABC reported.
In Florida last week, a shark bit a fisherman who was washing his hands off the side of a boat in Everglades National Park. In another incident in Cocoa Beach, a 12-year-old girl received 50 stitches after a shark bit her on the leg.
(NEW YORK) — A 69-year-old woman has died following an alligator attack in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, authorities said Tuesday.
Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue, the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office and Spanish Wells security personnel responded around 9:28 a.m. to a report of a possible alligator attack near a lagoon bordering the golf course in the Spanish Wells community.
They located the woman — a resident of the community who had been walking her dog — at the edge of the lagoon. She appeared unresponsive, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
While rescue efforts were being made, an alligator appeared and was guarding the woman, interrupting emergency efforts, according to the sheriff’s office.
The alligator was safely removed from the area, and the woman’s body was recovered. The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy.
Authorities said it wasn’t clear when the woman was taken into the water.
This is the second fatal attack in the area in less than a year. An 88-year-old woman was attacked by an alligator at a lagoon near her home last August.
(NEW YORK) — Joey Chestnut won the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest for the 16th time on Tuesday, adding to his record for the most career championships of any eater in the contest’s roughly 50-year history.
Chestnut, who goes by the nickname “Jaws,” ate 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes at the annual July 4th event on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York.
Torrential rain and lightning delayed the start of the competition by two hours but did not alter the expected outcome for Chestnut, who entered the contest a heavy favorite.
The victory marked eight consecutive wins for Vallejo, California-native Chestnut. He first entered the contest in 2005 and has not suffered a defeat since 2015.
The runner up Geoffrey Esper, of Oxford, Massachusetts, ate 49 hot dogs.
While dominant, the performance by Chestnut fell 14 hot dogs short of his record set in 2021. He has eaten more than 70 hot dogs and buns in six contests, data collected by ESPN showed.
Due to the storm, contest officials told the participants earlier on Tuesday that the event had been canceled, Chestnut said in an interview with ESPN after the event.
“What a rollercoaster emotionally,” said Chestnut. “I wasn’t even sure if we were going to eat today.”
“I’m just happy,” he added. “It’s 4th of July and I got to eat some hot dogs.”
In the women’s division, Miki Sudo ate 39.5 hot dogs en route to her ninth consecutive championship. The second-place finisher, Mayoi Ebihara, ate 33.5 hot dogs.
Sudo, of Port Richey, Florida, said the stiff challenge from Ebihara distracted her.
“The first couple minutes, I found myself watching her, which I never want to do. I never want to be distracted by the other competitors,” Sudo said after the event, the Associated Press reported.
“Watching her, I fumbled my hands. I got stuck with a big burp early on but was able to correct,” Sudo added.
(ILLINOIS) — It was a somber Fourth of July for the residents of Highland Park, Illinois, as they gathered to mark one year since the mass shooting that took the lives of seven revelers and wounded dozens of others.
Hundreds of people joined dignitaries, including U.S. senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin and Gov. JB Pritzker, outside city hall on Tuesday to mark a moment of silence at 10:14 a.m., the time when the mass shooting occurred.
They then marched north on a memorial walk that organizers said was done not only to honor the victims but reclaim the day and the parade from the tragedy.
“I am so proud of how our community has supported one another during these 12 months and today,” Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said during the service.
A gunman armed with a rifle opened fire during last year’s parade, striking dozens of paradegoers and marchers. Investigators said 83 shots were fired during the mass shooting.
Seven people were killed during the incident: Katherine Goldstein, 64, Stephen Straus, 88, Jacki Sundheim, 63, Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, and Irina McCarthy, 35, and her husband Kevin McCarthy, 37. During the parade, the McCarthy’s were with their 2-year-old son, Aiden, and were separated during the incident.
The toddler survived.
Forty-eight other people were wounded from either gunshots or shrapnel.
One of those victims was honored Monday night during the Cubs-Brewers game in Milwaukee.
Cooper Roberts, 9, who was paralyzed from the waist down, threw out the first pitch of the game to his favorite player Christian Yelich.
“Having Cooper here, alongside his family, represents a milestone in this long path to recovery for the entire community,” Rick Schlesinger, the Brewers’ president of business operations, said in a statement.
After an hours-long manhunt, police caught and arrested the suspect, Robert Crimo III, 22. The alleged gunman was charged with 117 criminal counts including 21 counts of first-degree murder, three counts for each victim, as well as 48 counts of attempted murder.
The suspect has pleaded not guilty and awaiting trial.
He faces life in prison without parole if convicted on his charges.
Investigators said the suspect legally purchased the weapon used in the shooting and other firearms found in his car during his arrest.
In December, the suspect’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., was charged by investigators with seven counts of reckless conduct causing great bodily harm. The suspect’s father allegedly signed the Firearm Owner’s Identification card for his son to apply for gun ownership.
The alleged gunman was 19 at the time and too young to get a FOID card on his own.
The suspect’s father pleaded not guilty to his charges.
Rotering and other community leaders pushed for an end to gun violence.
“As we remember each of the victims of the shooting let us commit to making meaningful change,” she said.
(ILLINOIS) — It was a somber Fourth of July for the residents of Highland Park, Illinois, as they gathered to mark one year since the mass shooting that took the lives of seven revelers and wounded dozens of others.
Hundreds of people joined dignitaries, including U.S. senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin and Gov. JB Pritzker, outside city hall on Tuesday to mark a moment of silence at 10:14 a.m., the time when the mass shooting occurred.
They then marched north on a memorial walk that organizers said was done not only to honor the victims but reclaim the day and the parade from the tragedy.
“I am so proud of how our community has supported one another during these 12 months and today,” Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said during the service.
A gunman armed with a rifle opened fire during last year’s parade, striking dozens of paradegoers and marchers. Investigators said 83 shots were fired during the mass shooting.
Seven people were killed during the incident: Katherine Goldstein, 64, Stephen Straus, 88, Jacki Sundheim, 63, Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, and Irina McCarthy, 35, and her husband Kevin McCarthy, 37. During the parade, the McCarthy’s were with their 2-year-old son, Aiden, and were separated during the incident.
The toddler survived.
Forty-eight other people were wounded from either gunshots or shrapnel.
One of those victims was honored Monday night during the Cubs-Brewers game in Milwaukee.
Cooper Roberts, 9, who was paralyzed from the waist down, threw out the first pitch of the game to his favorite player Christian Yelich.
“Having Cooper here, alongside his family, represents a milestone in this long path to recovery for the entire community,” Rick Schlesinger, the Brewers’ president of business operations, said in a statement.
After an hours-long manhunt, police caught and arrested the suspect, Robert Crimo III, 22. The alleged gunman was charged with 117 criminal counts including 21 counts of first-degree murder, three counts for each victim, as well as 48 counts of attempted murder.
The suspect has pleaded not guilty and awaiting trial.
He faces life in prison without parole if convicted on his charges.
Investigators said the suspect legally purchased the weapon used in the shooting and other firearms found in his car during his arrest.
In December, the suspect’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., was charged by investigators with seven counts of reckless conduct causing great bodily harm. The suspect’s father allegedly signed the Firearm Owner’s Identification card for his son to apply for gun ownership.
The alleged gunman was 19 at the time and too young to get a FOID card on his own.
The suspect’s father pleaded not guilty to his charges.
Rotering and other community leaders pushed for an end to gun violence.
“As we remember each of the victims of the shooting let us commit to making meaningful change,” she said.
(NORTH CAROLINA) — When Dorian Bolden began expanding his coffee shop, Beyu Caffe, in Durham, North Carolina, he says the most difficult part was securing funding as a Black business owner.
“I recognize how we were not able to get funding the way I saw, you know, my white counterparts getting funding,” Bolden told ABC News.
Bolden is far from the only Black entrepreneur to face such a barrier. Black-owned businesses were about half as likely as white-owned businesses to receive all or most of the financing they requested, according to a 2022 Federal Reserve report.
The struggle to find capital isn’t new. After the end of slavery, Black Americans were largely shut out of American banks. Between 1865 and 1934, minority depositories, also known as Black-owned banks and credit unions, began to surface across the country as a result.
The Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, would become home to what was known as Black Wall Street, but in 1921 it was burned to the ground by white supremacists in a violent race massacre.
Historic downtown Durham, where Bolden set up shop in 2009, acquired a “national reputation for entrepreneurship” of Black-owned business in the early 1900s, reads a sign in the area. Founded in 1907, Mechanics and Farms Bank, or M&F Bank, was among those businesses.
M&F Bank is now the second-oldest minority depository in the country. Bolden said he worked with the bank to secure funding for Beyu’s expansion, adding two new locations at Raleigh Durham Airport.
“Recognizing the importance of having support from a Black institution, it does matter,” Bolden said.
Obtaining a mortgage loan is another obstacle faced by Black Americans seeking to own their own home and build wealth for future generations.
For Debbie Jones, a resident of Pearl, Mississippi, it was a dream she shared with her late mom. But she began to question if her dream would ever become a reality after she says she was denied a home loan from a well-known mortgage company.
“But that particular loan company stated that they denied me because I didn’t have the income, and I knew I had the income,” Jones said.
Jones ended up going to Hope Credit Union, a Black-owned depository in Mississippi. She said the institution used the same criteria as the first mortgage company she tried, yet she was instantly approved.
“If your annual income in your household of $150,000 and you’re Black, you’re more likely to be turned away for a mortgage loan than if you’re white with a $30 to $40,000 income. So there are disparities, systemic discrimination in the financial system,” Bill Bynum, Hope Credit Union CEO and co-founder, told ABC News.
While minority depositories are working to close the racial gap, the recent bank failures of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank and Signature Bank have raised concerns over the health of the nation’s banking system. New research suggests that almost 190 U.S. banks, including community and minority depositories, could face a similar fate if just half of their depositors took their money out, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper.
Bynum said that while Hope Credit Union hasn’t had a run on deposits, they are having “conversations with some of [their] depositors who are obviously nervous.” M&F Bank CEO James Sills said that most community banks are largely safe and don’t have risky business models.
But the same “perception of risk” that impedes Black entrepreneurs and prospective home buyers also applies to Black-owned institutions themselves, Bynum said.
It’s a concern echoed by Nicole Elam, president of the National Bankers Association, a trade group advocating for minority depositories.
“We are all too familiar with systemic racism and how it’s impacted not just policies, but how it’s impacted people’s perceptions and people’s psychology,” Elam told ABC News.
Beyond the perception of risk, the challenges for minority depositions to build and sustain capital continue to mount, but there has been some relief.
Congress is investing $12 billion into minority depositories through the Emergency Capital Investment Program. This month, the Economic Opportunity Coalition pulled together $1 billion in private sector funding. In addition to that funding, Elam says she would encourage federal, state and local governments to make deposits in Black and minority banks.
For Bolden, securing funding has allowed him to help build community.
“The fact that we have team members who started as a host and now they’re, you know, senior leaders and second houses they purchase, having a salary. Being able to see people grow and develop and have a financial future, that’s community,” Bolden said.
And out of strong communities, future generations get a shot at building wealth.
“[Buying a home] was a dream come true. It was wonderful. It’s something, a legacy. Something that I can leave my children,” Jones said, adding that her mom was able to enjoy the home for five months before she passed.
“I know she’s my angel now, and she’s watching over me,” Jones said.
